Watertight watch case and watch

ABSTRACT

A watertight watch and watch case construction in which a watch case body has an integral back cover and a cavity housing the watch movement. A seal gasket of elastic, deformable material is disposed circumferentially of the watch dial and a crystal support ring overlies the gasket with a watch crystal bonded thereto. A bezel has a flange or rim overlying a marginal circumferential part of the ring and is tightened by screws spaced around the watch case body deforming the seal so that a positive watertight seal is formed to protect the interior of the watch.

United States Patent [1 1 Aoki [54] WATERTIGHT WATCH CASE AND WATCH [75]Inventor: Masayoshi Aoki, Tokyo, Japan [73] Assignee: Kabushiki KaishaDaini Keikosha,

Tokyo, Japan [22] Filed: May 30, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 257,556

[30] Foreign application priority data June 2, 1971 Japan ..46/45343 52US. Cl. "58/90 R, 58/91 [51] Int. Cl. ..G04b 37/08 [58] Field of Search..58/90 R, 91, 94

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,479,771 11/1969 Steimann..58/90 R FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1-,386,681 12/1965 France..S8/90 R Primary Examiner-George H. Miller, Jr. Attorney-Robert E.Burns et al.

[5 7] ABSTRACT A watertight watch and watch case construction in which awatch case body has an integral back cover and a cavity housing thewatch movement. A seal gasket of elastic, deformable material isdisposed circumferentially of the watch dial and a crystal support ringoverlies the gasket with a watch crystal bonded thereto. A bezel has aflange or rim overlying a marginal circumferential part of the ring andis tightened by screws spaced around the watch case body deforming theseal so that a positive watertight seal is formed to protect theinterior of the watch.

4 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This inventionrelates generally to watches and more particularly to watertight watchesand a watch case construction therefor.

In the usual watertight watch construction the back cover is not madeintegrally with the watch case and is mounted thereon by a tight fit orby complementary threads on the watch case and it. In this type ofconstruction frequent removal of the back cover will reduce thepossibility of watertightness being maintained.

Recently watertight watches have been constructed in which the watchcase has a back cover integral therewith. However, watertightness inthese watches is lost in the bezel construction thereof. The bezel inthese known watches has the crystal bonded or adhered thereon. Since thebezel is generally subjected to strong forces in mounting on the watchcase and in use, the crystal bonded thereon looses its tightness and mayeven come loose. The practice has changed in these watches to bonding oradhering the crystal on a crystal ring or support ring therefor and thento hold the support ring with a bezel. These constructions have abulkiness and large-sized exterior that ruins their appearance and theirbezel seal is not adequate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION case to be of any desired shape such as oval,square or rectangular.

The watch and watch case of the invention have an integral back coverjointly with the watch case body defining an inner cavity within whichwatch works in conjunction with a watch dial are housed. A crystal has asupport ring attached thereto by bonding and this ring overlies a gasketcircumferentially of the dial plate. A bezel clamps the ring along amarginal circumferential portion and deforms the seal forming a sealinternally of the bezel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other objects and advantages willappear from the following description of an example of the invention,and the novel features will be particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary cross section view of a watertight watch andwatch case construction according to the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary cross section view of the watch case in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIGS. 1 and 2 watchesembodying the invention are illustrated fragmentarily. A watch crystal 1has a rim la adhered by a suitable adhesive on a ring 2. The ring 2 hasits outer diameter greater than that of the crystal's rim la so that itextends past the outer periphery of the rim 1a. A watch case body 3supports a deformable gasket 4 of resilient material on which thecrystal support ring 2 is disposed.

A bezel 5 disposed circumferentially of the support ring 2 and thegasket 4 has a flange or rim 50 extending inwardly overlying a marginalportion of the surface of the support ring 2 on which the crystal issupported. The bezel rim 5a has an annular inner surface that isdisposed circumferentially of the rim 1a of the crystal so that thecrystal is held radially. The watch case body has angularly spacedthrough openings, only one of which is shown at 3a, through which screws6 extend and have a threaded part 6a threaded into complementarythreaded recesses in the body of the bezel.

Within the watch case body is disposed the watch works or movement 7 onwhich is mounted a dial plate 8 and the hands, not shown. The watchworks 7 are received in a cavity in the watch case body 3 and aresupported by an annular projection 3b extending inwardly of the cavitywithin the watch case body. The watch case body has a back 3c integraltherewith and defining the cavity jointly therewith.

A holding ring 9 underlies the watch plate 8 and has an annular surfaceoverlying the watch movement and is disposed circumferentially about thewatch works holding it fixed in position. A threaded nut 10 on eachscrew 6 securing the bezel is received in a corresponding cavity andtightening thereof applies axial pull to its screw and compresses thegasket 4 so that it deforms as shown and a watertight seal is formed sothat the watch case and watch according to the invention are watertight.

The watch according to the invention is assembled by first inserting thewatch movement with the dial plate 8 and hands, not shown, alreadymounted thereon in the cavity of the'watch case body. The holding ringis in position around the watch movement and it is placed in position inan annular recess 3:! on the watch case body circumferentially of thecavity so that the holding ring fits thereinto and is located orpositioned in place and is held radially. As the watch works areinserted, a shoulder or annular surface 7a thereon engages the supportprojection 3b extending into the cavity of the watch case body.

The gasket 4 is then disposed around the holding ring 9. It will benoticed that the supporting ring has a circumferential notch so that itslower part forms a flange 9b thereon received in the locating recessZia. Thus the gasket 4 overlies the flange 9b of the holding ring 9 andis disposed circumferentially of the dial plate 8 and the holding ringwhich are of equal diameter in the part of the supporting ring 9enclosed circumferentially by the gasket.

The crystal with the crystal support ring 2 bonded or adhered thereon isseated on the gasket 4 and the bezel 5 is located in position holdingthe crystal support ring 2 down as before described. The mounting screws6 of the bezel are threaded into threaded mounting holes 5b andpositioned on the bezel before it is located on the watch case body 3.They may be additionally secured by soldering or welding. The mountingscrews 6 are received in their respective holes 3a when thebezel islocated in position and the threaded nuts 10 are then threaded on to themounting screws. As the nuts 10 are tightened, the flange a on the bezelengages with surfaces defining an annular notch 2a, on the crystal rimand the support ring 2 in which it is received and seats. The continuedtightening compresses the gasket 4 and the holding ring is forcedagainst the watch works so that it is fixed and held in position and theinside of the watch case is sealed in a watertight condition.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 the watch parts corresponding to orsimilar to the parts of the embodiment heretofore described aresimilarly numbered except that the reference numerals and letters areprimed. In this embodiment the crystal 1 has no rim and the support ring2 has a circumferential notch 2a in which a flange 5a ofa bezel 5'seats.

The watch case body has an annular recess or groove 3e circumferentiallyof the inner cavity in which is received the bezel 5 and a plurality ofholes 3a extend into this annular groove for receiving therein screws 6screwed into respective threaded holes 5b on the bezel spaced thereon.These screws are inserted into position through the holes 3a on thewatch case body. As the screws are tightened, a gasket 4 is deformed asbefore and everything is assembled and fixed as before described andfluidtight or watertight seal is formed.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the watch case constructionaccording to the invention may be made oval, oblong, circular orrectangular. There are many possibilities as to the watch caseconfiguration.

Moreover, the, watch case body with an integral back cover may be madeof plastic by injection molding.

What is claimed is:

1. A watertight watch case comprising, a watch case body having anintegral back corresponding to a back cover defining a cavity forreceiving a watch movement therein, a resilient, deformable gasketcircumferentially of said cavity, a ring overlying said gasket andhaving a watch crystal bonded thereto spanning a space in registry withsaid cavity, a bezel disposed circumferentially of said gasket, saidring and of said watch crystal, said bezel having a flange overlying amarginal, annular portion of said ring, and means to fix said bezel onsaid watch case body comprising means to draw said bezel toward saidwatch case body thereby to apply pressure to said ring to deform saidgasket effecting a watertight seal circumferentially of said cavity.

2. A watertight watch case according to claim 1, in which said watchcase body has an annular groove disposed circumferentially of saidcavity and in which said bezel is disposed.

3. A watertight watch case according to claim 1, including a holdingring disposed circumferentially of said cavity and interiorly of saidgasket for holding said watch movement in said cavity, said holding ringhaving a marginal edge part thereof underlying said gasket, and saidwatch case body having an annular recess in which said holding ring isdisposed.

4. A watertight watch case according to claim 1, in which said means todraw the bezel toward the watch case body comprises a plurality ofscrews disposed spaced from each other in a circumferential direction onsaid Watch case body extending through said watch case body andextending into said bezel.

1. A watertight watch case comprising, a watch case body having anintegral back corresponding to a back cover defining a cavity forreceiving a watch movement therein, a resilient, deformable gasketcircumferentially of said cavity, a ring overlying said gasket andhaving a watch crystal bonded thereto spanning a space in registry withsaid cavity, a bezel disposed circumferentially of said gasket, saidring and of said watch crystal, said bezel having a flange overlying amarginal, annular portion of said ring, and means to fix said bezel onsaid watch case body comprising means to draw said bezel toward saidwatch case body thereby to apply pressure to said ring to deform saidgasket effecting a watertight seal circumferentially of said cavity. 2.A watertight watch case according to claim 1, in which said watch casebody has an annular groove disposed circumferentially of said cavity andin which said bezel is disposed.
 3. A watertight watch case according toclaim 1, including a holding ring disposed circumferentially of saidcavity and interiorly of said gasket for holding said watch movement insaid cavity, said holding ring having a marginal edge part thereofunderlying said gasket, and said watch case body having an annularrecess in which said holding ring is disposed.
 4. A watertight watchcase according to claim 1, in which said means to draw the bezel towardthe watch case body comprises a plurality of screws disposed spaced fromeach other in a circumferential direction on said watch case bodyextending through said watch case body and extending into said bezel.